OrlandoSentinel.com: Competition over oil complicates war push

The Bush administration has said little about what happens to Iraq's oil if there is a regime change. But in Russia, France, Italy and Spain, where major oil companies have signed deals with the Iraqi government despite U.N. sanctions, the idea of regime change is cause for concern.

In the late 1990s, Security Council members France, Russia and China pushed for an easing of the trade sanctions against Iraq, which is one reason the three are well-positioned with Saddam's regime. A lucrative contract between the Russian oil giant Lukoil and Iraq gives Lukoil the right to develop the West Qurna fields near Basra, thought to contain about 8 to 15 billion barrels of recoverable oil. This deal and a smaller one with the Chinese government have been ratified by Iraq's national assembly and could not be easily broken.

The Bush administration has reportedly given quiet assurances to the Russians and Chinese that in exchange for their support at the United Nations, the United States would not disturb these agreements.